HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police on Monday accused eight overseas-based activists of “serious” national security offences including foreign collusion, and offered a HK$1 million ($127,656) reward for information leading to any arrest.
Those targeted include Nathan Law and Anna Kwok, former lawmakers Dennis Kwok and Ted Hui, and lawyer Kevin Yam, police told a press conference.
The activists are based in various places including the United States, Britain and Australia. Reuters was not able to immediately contact any of them.
Police told the press conference 260 people had been arrested under a China-imposed national security law since it came into effect in 2020, with 79 of them convicted for various offences including subversion and terrorism.
Some countries, including the United States, say the national security law has been used as a tool to suppress the city’s pro-democracy movement and it has undermined Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms.
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities, however, say the law has restored stability after the former British colony was rocked by protracted anti-China protests in 2019.
(Reporting by James Pomfret and Jessie Pang; editing by Robert Birsel)
